Would you pay to hire out a port lewis impression pad?

C

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Hi,

I am currently studying a foundation degree in equine science, therapy and horsemanship at uni and I am wanting to earn a bit extra money so I have been looking at buying a port lewis impression pad and just wondered how many of you (if any) would pay around £10-15 to hire one out so that you can check your saddle fits correctly and saving the cost of a saddler having to come out?

Any replies will be much appreciated, thanks.
 
I bought one and think they are wonderful and i had every intention of hiring it out to recoup some of the costs of buying it, but to be honest, i was so worried about sending it out to strangers, its very heavy to post and if it got damaged it would be my loss. It would be ok if you took the pad out to them so you could make sure it wasnt damaged but then it would be a loss of your time for very little money. The companies that i know that do hire them out require you to pay for the cost of the pad first and then they refund you the rest when it comes back, but not many people could afford to do that.
In the end i decided to keep it soley for myself!
 
Thanks for the replies, I thought about posting it out and the possibilties of somebody losing/damaging it so I was thinking of just taking it to places within a certain area and then charging per mile therafter maybe doing weekends. I'm not looking to make a fortune just the money back for the cost of it and a small profit.

Thanks :)
 
Even if you used one and found your saddle needed flocking, you'd still have to pay for the saddler to come out to flock it up and they who would automatically fit the saddle for you anyway, so to hire a pad out would be false economy in that instance for the person hiring it I would have thought.I think the experience and professional eye of the saddler would be better in the first place.
 
Thats a good point ive thought about :) but the cost of a saddler to come out when nothing needs doing is more than trying this pad so I suppose it's taking a risk but if the saddles fine then you've only spent £10 instead of possibly a lot more. And also where I live there aren't a lot of saddlers so the charge for someone to come out can be quite expensive. If people get their saddles checked say 3 times a year hiring a pad out 2 of the 3 times would save them money (if nothing needed doing) especially if they are just doing a check to make sure the pressure is still being distributed evenly and have guessed that most probably nothing will need doing.
 
I've used one in the course of being a fitter and I'd not advise it. They may work on some occasions but on others they cause issues by changing the fit - they are very thick. This means you usually end up with the pommel being lifted more than the rear, and the rider's weight will end up on the cantle giving misleading results. It can also make a saddle unstable so you'll get erroneous results showing sideways instability and pressure.

I think the paperwork ensuring the risk for damage is taken by the customer would be onerous, otherwise you'd need to charge a lot more than that to have your own "insurance" and adding postage or fuel to get it to and from you on top....just trying to be realistic for you, sorry.
 
No need to apologise sbloom there's pros n cons to every piece of equipment which is why I'm looking into it :-) Can I ask where you did your saddle fitting course as I am quite interested in doing one next summer when I'm off? Thanks
 
I work for Native Pony & Cob Saddles and was trained by them, some of it on the job, some of it theory, over about 6 months.

The SMS does a two day introductory course to saddle fitting which will next occur at Easter but you need to be in the industry, or join the SMS, to be able to take part :(. Nikki Routledge developed a saddle fitting course with the company I used to work for, now defunct - she might be able to sort something for you - it's distance learning and designed for horse owners.

There aren't many short term courses available - cremedemonthe might be able to help.
 
sbloom said:
I work for Native Pony & Cob Saddles and was trained by them, some of it on the job, some of it theory, over about 6 months.

The SMS does a two day introductory course to saddle fitting which will next occur at Easter but you need to be in the industry, or join the SMS, to be able to take part :(. Nikki Routledge developed a saddle fitting course with the company I used to work for, now defunct - she might be able to sort something for you - it's distance learning and designed for horse owners.

There aren't many short term courses available - cremedemonthe might be able to help.
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I was taught saddle fitting and flocking at Cordwainers when it was still in Hackney but that was 24 years ago, you don't really want to have to learn how to make saddles, harness, bridlework and fit lorinery just to learn saddle fitting I would have thought!
I would try any local Saddlers if I were you to see if you could get some training with them, I have trained people in my workshop and out on site and always try to show the customer who I am fitting for what I am doing and why. It helps immensely so they have told me.
If you can't find any local Saddlers to help you ,you may have to go further out as some saddlers won't want to train someone up who may then go on to take trade away from them or possibly sign a statement at local Saddlers that you won't practice in their catchment area/s.
Oz :)
 
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